Three Years After Wichita Police Killed John Paul Quintero Things Are Still The Same

Three years after a female officer from the Wichita Police Department shot and killed unarmed John Paul “Pauly” Quintero protocol following a police shooting remains the same

On January 3, 2015, a female officer responded to a domestic disturbance involving a knife with an assault rifle

After initiating conversation with Pauly, he was Tased and then shot with the assault rifle twice

An interview with Detective Chisolm and Pauly’s father Santiago Quintero gives a better look at the incident

The 2015 shooting of Pauly was deemed justified and the WPD never released any information to the public in regards to the shooting

On Saturday, January 3, 2015, a female officer for the Wichita Police Department shot and killed 23-year-old John Paul “Pauly” Quintero while responding to a domestic disturbance call involving a knife armed with an assault rifle. On January 4, 2015, Pauly died from his injuries.

Three years after Pauly’s murder, the City of Wichita has said very little about the shooting. The WPD released a public incident report that contained what they called, five “heavily redacted” pages. The report was a slap in the face to both Pauly’s loved ones and police reform advocates in search of police accountability in wrongful shootings.

The WPD’s lack of transparency in regards to Pauly’s shooting was nothing new. Not only is the department known for their silence following police shootings, the city has yet to declare a police shooting unjustified. The department has been promising transparency to concerned citizens for years, but following the police shooting of Andrew Finch on December 28, the department has yet to fulfill their promise.

While the public has received little to no details from the WPD about Pauly’s shooting, The Daily Haze managed to obtain the transcript of Detective R.K. Chisolm interviewing Pauly’s father, Santiago Quintero just one hour after WPD shot his son. Santiago was told he was not allowed to go unless he gave a statement at the WPD office. He refused, and instead agreed to give a statement in a squad car on scene.

Santiago told Chisolm that Pauly had only been in Wichita for a little over a month. He had moved to Wichita from San Antonio and been staying with his cousin at the residence where the shooting occurred. Santiago had got Pauly a job at the cleaning company he worked for.

Santiago stated that Pauly’s cousin called him because Pauly had been drinking all day while celebrating his birthday the day before. During the celebration, Pauly and his cousin’s boyfriend got into a verbal dispute that led to a physical altercation. Santiago said the man warned Pauly, “Behave, or I am gonna hit you,” and slammed him to the floor.

Pauly received a gash to his head when he was slammed to the floor. The two men continued to exchange words while Pauly’s cousin called Santiago. Santiago was with his wife at Menard’s but said he would come over once he was done and dropped off his wife.

Once he got to the cousin’s residence, Santiago went to speak to Pauly. The following is from the transcript between Santiago and Chisolm.

Came up here — I pulled up, and I talked to (Pauley). I said, “You got a gash in your head.” He said, “I haven’t been doin’ nothin’, dad.” I said, “Well they’re tellin’ me you was causin’ trouble. (Unintelligible) you’re livin’ with them and you’re supposed to behave and help them out.” Uh, they’re helpin’ him out by givin’ him a place to stay. “But I didn’t do anything, dad.” And then I say, “Well you gotta a gash in your head.” (Unintelligible). Goes back inside. So I say, “Fuck.” So I cleared off my truck and I followed him inside. And when I get up in there, he’s got a knife.

Santiago claimed both Pauly and the boyfriend both had a knife at this point. It is believed Pauly had the boyfriend’s knife because he heard the man say, “That’s my knife.” Santiago moved between Pauly and the boyfriend to prevent the altercation from escalating any further. Pauly turned his attention towards Santiago and pointed the knife at him. Santiago claims he asked his son, “Is that the way you want it?” and said fuck it, before walking outside and telling his son to “Handle your business.”

Once outside, Santiago called 911 requesting help to de-escalate the situation. Once on the phone with police, Santiago stated, “I need help.” The following is from the transcript of the interview.

“I need you guys to come over to help me get him out. I don’t know what’s goin’ on inside the house, but I seen them shut the door.” When I walked out, he didn’t do anything. If he wanted to do something, he would’ve used the knife on that guy. So I walked out and I called the cops. I hang up. I (unintelligible), “He’s coming outside.” He walks outside. I hung up the phone — get in my truck. I said, “Where’s the knife?” He said, “I left it inside.” I said, I’ll tell you — he said, “I’m sorry, dad.” I said, “All right. I’ll tell you what, we’re gonna sit here in this truck and we’re gonna wait for the police officers to get here. What we’re gonna do peacefully — you’re gonna get your clothes from inside — your belongings — and you’re gonna come back and then we’re gonna bring all this shit in my truck and we’re drivin’ over to my house and you’re gonna stay at my house.” And (unintelligible) I don’t live too far from where I work and he works. (Unintelligible) get you an apartment. He said, “Okay, dad.” So we’re sittin’ in the truck. The police shows up, “Put your hands up. Put your hands up.” I open up the door and throw my keys on the side. I put my hands up. I walked out, put my hands on the side mirror. (It should be noted that Santiago disputes putting his hands on the mirror because his door was open.)

When Pauly got out of the car, Santiago claims his son was intoxicated and being argumentative with the officers. Santiago heard one of the officers yell, “Put your fucking hands up,” to which he replied, “He has no weapons!” One of the officers yelled, “We’re gonna tase you.” Santiago was able to see what was going on from the side of his window due to the police lights. Santiago watched the male officer holster his handgun and pull out his Taser as Pauly stood with his hands in the air.

Cause I could see his hands up on the window. And as he turned around, the police officer tased him.

The male officer discharged his Taser, striking Pauly. Pauly’s hands fell towards his waist as he began falling to the ground. Santiago told Chisolm while the taser was still going the female officer shot Pauly twice with her assault rifle. Santiago claims he heard the female officer say, “I thought he went for something.”

The male officer told Santiago to get away from the vehicle. Santiago replied, “There is no reason you shoulda shot my boy. That’s fucked up. I call you guys to help me, not to shoot my boy.” The male officer responded, “Get away from the car. Arrest him.” Santiago replied, “Fuck you. Why you arresting me for? I didn’t do shit. That’s my boy on the ground. That’s fucked up. I call you to help me out, not to fuckin’ shoot my boy.”

They deploy the Taser. I – I heard it go puhhhh, and then I hear pow – pow. Then she pulls up at him with a – with a rifle and she goes, “I – I thought he was reachin’ for somethin’. I thought he was reaching for something.”“You just shot my fuckin’ boy,” that’s what I told her.

Despite a clear lack of evidence to show Pauly was a threat requiring lethal force, the shooting was deemed justified. Not only did Santiago call the police for help de-escalating a situation with his son, him and Pauly waited for police to show up. Never did it cross his mind that by doing what we are taught to do with police that his son would end up murdered for his physical reaction to getting Tased.